To sample a little that each of the Canary Islands has to offer in the way of climate, landscape and culture, Gran Canaria is perhaps the best choice. The southernmost and most populous of the islands, Gran Canaria contains within its roughly circular framework of 1,532 square km (597 square miles) patches of semi-desert like the larger ones found... more...

Lanzarote has a certain visual and geological appeal that is rare in the rest of the country. UNESCO has declared the whole island a Biosphere Reserve, within which is the fantastically captivating Parque Nacional de Timanfaya. In driving around the island, take note of the many structures designed by the late architect and island native César... more...

The overwhelming popularity of Tenerife among European travelers is due to a number of factors. Geographically, it is situated roughly at the center of the archipelago, facilitating ferry travel to each of the surrounding islands. Though it is the largest in total area - around 100 km long and 40 km across at its widest point (62 x 24 miles) - touring... more...

In most cases travelers begin their trip here on one of the two most popular islands and, if they want, use the ferry boats to reach the smaller islands for short day-excursions. While Gran Canaria and Tenerife offer the widest array of tourist entertainment and accommodations, each has beautiful and largely unspoiled natural areas just a short drive... more...

The stark beauty of the Castilla-La Manch region of Spain is occasionally punctuated by white windmills capped with black, pointed roofs. Holdovers from the 16th and 17th century, they are the beloved landmarks of the region and the brunt of its most famous joke. This was the imaginative canvas of Cervantes, the favored land of his blundering ideologue,... more...

Details of all the state and national parks. This describes them all, from the vast national parks to little-visited wilderness preserves. Facilities, hiking trails, fees, campgrounds, fishing, canoeing, history, nearby attractions, directions - everything you need. Park maps show what to find and where to find it. Filled with contact numbers and addresses.... more...

A monumentally informed and irresistibly opinionated guide to the most un-Spanish city in Spain, from the bestselling author of The Fatal Shore . In these pages, Robert Hughes scrolls through Barcelona's often violent history; tells the stories of its kings, poets, magnates, and revolutionaries; and ushers readers through municipal landmarks that... more...

Spanish Spaces is a pioneering study that marries cultural geography with contemporary Spanish culture. It consists of thematic case studies (memory and forgetting, nationalism and terrorism, crime and detection, gender, tourism and immigration), selected for their currency and drawing on the exploration of these themes in contemporary Spanish film... more...

Muslim enclaves within non-Islamic polities are commonly believed to have been beleaguered communities undergoing relentless cultural and religious decline. Cut off from the Islamic world, these Muslim groups, it is assumed, passively yielded to political, social, and economic forces of assimilation and acculturation before finally accepting Christian... more...